William J Parnell

William J Parnell is a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Manchester, where he leads the Mathematics of Waves and Materials (MWM) research group. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Wave Motion and Associate Editor for the Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics and International Journal of Solids and Structures. His research bridges fundamental applied mathematics with applications in industrial and biomedical fields.

• Design of microstructured materials, metamaterials, and syntactic foams
• Wave propagation in complex media
• Mathematical modeling of soft tissue and bone

MWM collaborates with Thales UK and has secured funding from the EPSRC, Leverhulme Trust, Royal Society, and industry. In 2019, Parnell launched the Manchester Materials Modelling Centre (M3C) to further interdisciplinary research.

His scientific awards include the Whitehead Prize (2019) from the London Mathematical Society. He has held EPSRC Fellowships, including the NEMESIS project (2014–2019), and an EPSRC Fellowship extension focused on novel microstructured materials.